Samuel Ajayi Crowther was born in 1809 in Osogun, in the Egba section of now Iseyin local goverment area of Oyo state, Nigeria. He was a Bishop of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and a linguist.
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When about 13, Ajayi was taken as a slave by Fulani and Yoruba Muslim raiders and sold several times before being purchased by Portuguese traders for the transatlantic market. His ship was intercepted by the British navy’s anti-slave trade patrol, and the slaves were liberated in Sierra Leone. There he became a Christian, taking at baptism the name of an eminent clergyman in England, Samuel Crowther. Excelling at school, he became a mission teacher and one of the first students of the Fourah Bay Institution, founded by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1827 to train able Sierra Leoneans for Christian service.
Crowther was baptized and, in 1827, became the first teacher to graduate from the Church Missionary Society's Teacher Training College at Fourah Bay. He joined the 1841 Niger expedition, sent out by England to explore the Niger River, combat the slave trade, and open the country for legitimate trade. Climatic conditions prevented success, but Crowther distinguished himself. He was invited to England for further training and ordained in the Church of England in 1843.
Ajayi assisted John Raban and (probably) Hannah Kilham in their studies of African languages, and in 1841 he joined J.F. Schön as a CMS representative on T.F. Buxton‘s Niger Expedition, contributing signally to it. He studied at the CMS college in London preparatory to ordination in 1843–a landmark for the Anglican ministry. With Henry Townsend and C.A. Gollmer, he then opened a new mission in Yorubaland, centered in Abeokuta, by now the homeland of Crowther’s Egba people.
Crowther worked as a priest in Sierra Leone but soon became a member of the Anglican Mission in Nigeria, first at Badgray and later at Abeokuta. There, by accident, he recognized his mother after 25 years of separation and baptized her in 1848. He preached in Yoruba, translated parts of the New Testament and the Book of Common Prayer and also published a Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language (1852). He believed that evangelization and trade should go together in order to bring peace and prosperity to the country. His role in producing the Yoruba bible, which set new standards for later African translations, was crucial. Crowther’s visit to Britain in 1851 influenced government, church, and public opinion about Africa.
In 1854 and 1857 Crowther was a member of two further Niger expeditions. The second suffered shipwreck, and Crowther did not return to Lagos until 1859. In 1855 he published Journal of an Expedition up the Niger and Tshadda Rivers, and in 1859, with J. C. Taylor, The Gospel on the Banks of the Niger, 1857-1859. He made frequent visits to England. In 1857 he was made head of the Niger Mission, and as the work prospered he was consecrated a bishop of the Church of England in West Africa in 1864 and also awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree by Oxford University.
As a bishop, Crowther faced many difficulties. There was local opposition, both African and European; his duties and rights were not easily defined, and he was short of African helpers. Many of his African staff came from Sierra Leone and found it difficult to live in Nigeria. But the work prospered, and soon there were more than 600 Christians, with 10 priests and 14 teachers and catechists. His task was hard, but the fact that he was an African bishop inspired many African Christians in the years that followed.
Crowther was married to a schoolmistress, Asano, also known by her former Islamic name, Hassana and baptised Susan. She was also rescued from the Portuguese slave ship that originally brought Crowther to Sierra Leone. Part of the Niger Mission retained its autonomy as the Niger Delta Pastorate Church under Crowther’s son, Archdeacon D.C. Crowther, and at least one of the European missionaries, H.H. Dobinson, repented of earlier hasty judgments.
Ajayi Crowther was father-in-law to Thomas Babington Macaulay, a junior associate, who married Crowther's 2nd daughter, Abigail Crowther. His grandson Herbert Macaulay (Thomas Babington Macaulay and Abigail Crowther's son) became one of the first Nigerian nationalists and played an important role in ending British colonial rule in Nigeria.
Crowther died of a stroke on December 31st, 1891, and was buried in Lagos. Everyone recognized Crowther’s personal stature and godliness. His place in the history of translation and evangelization has often been undervalued. Yearly on December 31st, he is celebrated with a feast on the liturgical calendar of some Anglican churches, including the Episcopal Church (United States) and the Church of Nigeria.
In 2014, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the Church of England, Justin Welby apologised for the church's mistreatment of Africa's first bishop, Samuel Ajayi Crowther in a service titled ‘thanksgiving and repentance’ service marking the 150th anniversary of Bishop Crowther’s ordination.
Bishop Crowther was awarded a honourary divinity doctorate by the University of Oxford.
His net worth is not available.
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